Central State University

Central State University's Office of Sponsored Programs Division acts as a prime recipient for federal research and educational grants and, in a smaller role, participates as a sub-recipient in collaborative research and workforce development projects. The Division operates as a historically Black 1890 land-grant institution headquartered in Wilberforce, Ohio, with no federal contract prime awards but significant federal grant volume spanning education, agriculture, natural resources, and STEM research.

CSU holds designations as a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), a state-controlled minority institution, a 1890 land-grant college, and an institution of higher learning. The Division's grant portfolio reflects these designations and the institution's tri-partite mission of teaching, research, and extension serving underserved and underrepresented populations in Ohio and beyond. Recent grant activity emphasizes agricultural science, K-12 and undergraduate STEM education, forest management, extension programming, institutional capacity-building, and climate-smart agriculture practices targeting rural and low-income communities.

The Division's customer base concentrates heavily in agriculture and education grant programs. The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) leads with 53 awards spanning Evans-Allen agricultural research, 1890 capacity-building grants, extension services, and scholarships for agriculture students. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education placed 25 awards across TRIO Student Support Services, Upward Bound, and Title III institutional aid programs. The National Science Foundation contributed 21 awards in research initiation, STEM education, REU sites, and collaborative research. Combined, these three agencies account for 53 percent of recent award volume. NIFA's formula grants and project grants dominate the portfolio in both count and dollar magnitude, reflecting the institution's role as an eligible 1890 land-grant institution.

Representative prime grant work includes an $11.277 million Evans-Allen program award for agricultural research spanning plant systems, food nutrition and health, natural resources management, and advanced technologies with support from twelve faculty-led research projects; a $10.120 million extension formula grant supporting 4-H youth development, agriculture and natural resources programming, family and consumer sciences, and community economic development across Ohio; a $2.053 million Title III institutional aid award from the Department of Education for academic quality strengthening; and $799,947 from NSF's Integrative Activities program for research on connected and autonomous vehicle scalability through hardware-software co-design, including a testbed in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Division also received $4.48 million from the Economic Development Administration in April 2022 to establish a Workforce and Business Development Center offering training in advanced manufacturing and software coding.

Activity has grown from 16 awards in 2022 to 28 in 2024, with 24 new awards in 2025 and 9 thus far in 2026. Twenty-four awards reach completion within the next twenty-four months, representing renewal and recompete opportunities across NIFA programs, NSF initiatives, and Department of Education funding streams. The Division acts as a sub-recipient in 36 awards (13 percent of the portfolio), primarily through partnerships with Ohio State University, the University of Minnesota, and other research institutions on soil health research, climate adaptation, semiconductor workforce development, and collaborative STEM initiatives involving student exchange and teacher professional development.

CSU's award footprint spans 49 distinct federal agencies but concentrates in USDA (NIFA), ED (OPE), and NSF. The Division does not hold parent vehicle seats on federal GWACs, BPAs, or GSA Schedules for federal contracting; its role is grant recipient. Infrastructure investments supported through recent awards include construction and renovation of research facilities, acquisition of precision agriculture and autonomous systems equipment, and development of forestry research capacity in southeastern Ohio's Appalachian region in partnership with the Ohio Interagency Forestry Team, the U.S. Forest Service, and NRCS.